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Our Correspondent looks on with dread at Dutch attempts to spice up the system

ONE OF THE GOOD THINGS about football is that, unlike American sports, at the end of the regular season we are afforded a fairly clear picture of the best team in the land. Every team faces every other team twice — once at home, once away — and the overall winner is the one who obtains the best result.

The system works because, at the risk of sounding corny or romantic, the roots of European football are fundamentally sporting, not commercial. The essence of the sport is competition: establishing a winner based on merit. This approach, however, is quite different